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Ronald Senungetuk ( ; 1933 – January 21, 2020) (last name pronounced ''Sinuŋituk'' in Iñupiaq) was an Iñupiaq artist originally from
Ron Senungetuk Receives $25,000 Distinguished Artist Award
/ref>
Alaskakool interview
1933 births 2020 deaths American silversmiths Artists from Alaska Inupiat people Native American sculptors People from Homer, Alaska Rochester Institute of Technology alumni University of Alaska Fairbanks faculty Animal artists Sculptors from Alaska {{US-sculptor-stub
Wales, Alaska
Wales ( ik, Kiŋigin, ; russian: У́эйлс, Weyls) is a city
in the Nome Census Area, Alaska, United States. At the 2010 census the population was 145, down from 152 in 2000. It is the westernmost city on the North American mainland, althou ...
, who worked primarily in wood and metal.
Career
Senungetuk was asculptor
Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable sc ...
and silversmith
A silversmith is a metalworker who crafts objects from silver. The terms ''silversmith'' and ''goldsmith'' are not exactly synonyms as the techniques, training, history, and guilds are or were largely the same but the end product may vary great ...
and was known for his abstractions of animal figures. He attended the Bureau of Indian Affairs
The Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), also known as Indian Affairs (IA), is a United States federal agency within the Department of the Interior. It is responsible for implementing federal laws and policies related to American Indians and A ...
school in Sitka
russian: Ситка
, native_name_lang = tli
, settlement_type = Consolidated city-borough
, image_skyline = File:Sitka 84 Elev 135.jpg
, image_caption = Downtown Sitka in 1984
, image_size ...
before training at the School for American Craftsmen at the Rochester Institute of Technology
Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) is a private university, private research university in the town of Henrietta, New York, Henrietta in the Rochester, New York, metropolitan area. The university offers undergraduate and graduate degree ...
and received his B.A. in 1960. Senungetuk received a Fulbright Fellowship
The Fulbright Program, including the Fulbright–Hays Program, is one of several United States Cultural Exchange Programs with the goal of improving intercultural relations, cultural diplomacy, and intercultural competence between the people of ...
to study at Statens Håndværks og Kunstindustriskole Oslo, Norway
Oslo ( , , or ; sma, Oslove) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of i ...
. He and his wife, Turid, an accomplished silversmith, lived in Homer
Homer (; grc, Ὅμηρος , ''Hómēros'') (born ) was a Greek poet who is credited as the author of the ''Iliad'' and the ''Odyssey'', two epic poems that are foundational works of ancient Greek literature. Homer is considered one of the ...
.
Senungetuk taught at the University of Alaska Fairbanks
The University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF or Alaska) is a public land-grant research university in College, Alaska, a suburb of Fairbanks. It is the flagship campus of the University of Alaska system. UAF was established in 1917 and opened for cla ...
beginning in 1961. He founded their metalsmithing program and served as director of its Native Art Center. During his teaching career he emphasized modern style of jewelry-making, avant-garde conepts, and respect for native traditional imagery. However, Senungetuk preferred not to be identified solely as a native artist, saying "A lot of people will call you an Eskimo artist. I'd rather be an artist who happened to be Inupiat."
His work was exhibited at the Anchorage Museum
The Anchorage Museum is a large art, history, ethnography, ecology and science museum located in a modern building in the heart of Anchorage, Alaska. It is dedicated to studying and exploring the land, peoples, art and history of Alaska.
The mu ...
, the Museum of the North at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, the Native Medical Center in Anchorage, and the Pratt Museum
The Pratt Museum is a regional natural history museum located in Homer, Alaska, with exhibits exploring life around Kachemak Bay in South Central Alaska. The museum's mission is to preserve "the stories of the Kachemak Bay region", through "coll ...
in Homer.
His daughter is musician and ethnomusicology scholar Heidi Aklaseaq Senungetuk.
Students
*Abraham Anghik Ruben
Abraham Anghik Ruben (born 1951, in Inuvialuit) is a sculptor of partly Alaskan Native ancestry.
Ruben was born south of the hamlet of Paulatuk in the Inuvik Region east of the Mackenzie River Delta in the Northwest Territories, Canada in 1951. ...
Awards and recognition
*1979 State of Alaska Governor's Award for the Arts *2008 Denali National Park Artist-in-Residence *2008 Rasmuson Foundation Distinguished Artist Award/ref>
See also
*Alaska Native art
Alaska Native cultures are rich and diverse, and their art forms are representations of their history, skills, tradition, adaptation, and nearly twenty thousand years of continuous life in some of the most remote places on earth. These art forms a ...
* Inuit art
Inuit art, also known as Eskimo art, refers to artwork produced by Inuit, that is, the people of the Arctic previously known as Eskimos, a term that is now often considered offensive. Historically, their preferred medium was walrus ivory, but s ...
Notes
External links
Alaskakool interview
1933 births 2020 deaths American silversmiths Artists from Alaska Inupiat people Native American sculptors People from Homer, Alaska Rochester Institute of Technology alumni University of Alaska Fairbanks faculty Animal artists Sculptors from Alaska {{US-sculptor-stub